Book Description
If anyone still questions the power which myth exercises over the human mind, he should read The Occult Rules of Nazism."
—Anthony Storr
"An extensive survey of . . . theosophy, astrology, and `ariosophy' (Aryan-racist-occult theories) . . . An intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies."
—Times Literary Supplement
Nearly half a century after the defeat of the Third Reich, Nazism remains a subject of extensive historical inquiry, general interest, and, alarmingly, a source of inspiration for resurgent fascism in Europe. Goodrick-Clarke's powerful and timely book traces the intellectual roots of Nazism back to a number of influential occult and millenarian sects in the Habsburg Empire during its waning years. These sects combined notions of popular nationalism with an advocacy of Aryan racism and a proclaimed need for German world-rule.
This book provides the first serious account of the way in which Nazism was influenced by powerful millenarian and occult sects that thrived in Germany and Austria almost fifty years before the rise to power of Adolf Hitler.
These millenarian sects (principally the Ariosophists) espoused a mixture of popular nationalism, Aryan racism, and occultism to support their advocacy of German world-rule. Over time their ideas and symbols, filtered through nationalist-racist groups associated with the infant Nazi party, came to exert a strong influence on Himmler's SS.
The fantasies thus fueled were played out with terrifying consequences in the realities structured into the Third Reich: Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka, the hellish museums of Nazi apocalypse, had psychic roots reaching back to millenial visions of occult sects. Beyond what the TImes Literary Supplement calls an intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies, this bizarre and fascinating story contains lessons we cannot afford to ignore.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2005-10-24
Great book. Well researched and sheds light on how myths can be so powerful. Unfortunately it was misused power!
The Occult Roots of Nazism........2004-06-03
_The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology_ by Nicholas Goodrick-Clark is an intriguing academic study on the pre-Nazi occult scene in Germany. The cover features a rather threatening Thule Gesellschaft symbol: a sword and swastika wrapped in laurels and a halo of emanating light. Many of the occult practices described in this book--palmistry, crystals, secret orders, hidden knowledge, spirit guides, channeling, tarot cards, fortune telling, astrology--have retained their popularity today in the New Age movement. What's particularly interesting about Goodrick-Clarke's work is he compares the Ariosophists List and Lanz to the ancient duelist philosophies of Gnosticism and Manicheanism in their extreme division of reality into two eternally conflicting forces of good (Aryans) and evil (Jews). Goodrick-Clarke begins his discussion by going back to the writings of Madame Helena Blavatsky, her two books _The Secret Doctrine_ and _Isis Unvieled_, and her occult Theosophical Society. Her books propagated a form of anti-rationalism and anti-scientism, instead relying upon supposed revealed secret doctrines by hidden masters in Tibet. Blavatsky believed there was a series of seven "root races" that lived on earth, of which the Aryan race was the fifth. Other notables connected with the occult at this time included Annie Besant, Charles Leadbeater and Bulwer Lytton. Lytton wrote in his work _The Coming Race_ of a subterranean race that was to give mankind new enlightenment and psychic abilities. Ariosophy, the so-called wisdom of the Aryans, developed from theosophical ideas and the general occult subcultures of the time. The political and motivation for the rise of occultism in Germany and Austria was the situation of the Austro -Hungarian Empire and the Hapsburg monarchy. Prussia had permanently excluded Austria from a role in a united German state by Bismark's military victories before 1871. However the Austrian Empire encompassed not only Hungary but also many nationalities of Slavic, non-German descent, in addition to Jewish minorities. The status of Germans as a whole in Austria was tenuous and the conservative elements of the populace were more inclined to fall for unorthodox metaphysical beliefs that would allow them to fight against the tides of political liberalism in the Empire. Hitler, it is to be noted, was not actually born in "Germany" proper but in the Austro-Hungarian Empire near the German border. Goodrick-Clarke takes care to note that Hitler despised the Hapsburg monarchy, while his sectarian occultist predecessors admired it as a bastion of German mystical/mythical tradition. In Vienna, during the late 1800s and early 1900s before World War I, two radical German nationalists, Guido von List and Adolf Lanz (who self-styled himself with the aristocratic title of von Liebenfels) researched and published a considerable amount of literature dealing with Germany's so-called repressed history. List believed that ancient, pagan, pre-Christian Germany was a center of culture kept alive by a secret order of initiates, the Armanenschaft, who established a decentralized aristocratic hierarchy and kept the German race pure through eugenic practices. Oddly enough, their secret doctrine, according to List, was encoded and given to the Rabbis for safekeeping in the form of the Cabala, in order to preserve it from Christian destruction. Lanz, whose _Ostara_ pamphlets Hitler is likely to have read, was an ex-Cistercian monk who joined the pan-German movement. Lanz made an extensive study of ancient civilizations and the Old Testament and concluded that the ancestors of the German race lived on Atlantis, which sank, and spread to Northern Europe and the Middle East. The supposed Aryan Middle Easterners founded the great civilizations of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, including the Hebrews. The Hebrew Scripture, according to Lanz's analysis, was a history of the attempt for Aryans to preserve their race. He interpreted the fall as the miscegenation between Aryans and lesser races. Lanz believed Jesus ("Frauja") was an Aryan savior and the medieval Christian character of Europe, with its monasteries and nobility, embodied the Aryan ideal. He believed Alexandria, known for its library and scholarship, was the center of gravity of ancient Ariosophy. The first bishop to convert the Germans to Christianity was Ulifas, an Arian bishop from Alexandria, thus Lanz equates "Aryanism" with the Christian heresy of "Arianism," or disbelief in the deity of Christ. The Ariosophists and pan-Germanists believed the only way to preserve Germany's Aryan past was to fight against modern liberal tendencies and take aggressive action against those corrupting Germany's traditional landscape: the Jews, communists and Slavs. Several quasi-Masonic lodges were founded throughout Germany and Austria before, during and after WWI. Among these were the Thule Society and the Germannorden. There is some speculation that the Thule Society, its membership being a collection of well-educated professionals and aristocrats, founded the German Workers Party (DAP) as an activist political party to attract a mass membership. Hitler was sent as a spy to the DAP to survey its activities. Hitler later joined this party, which eventually renamed itself the German National Socialist Party (NASDAP or Nazi Party). Although Hitler never mentioned Lanz by name in any of his recorded words, Goodrick-Clarke attributes this fact to Hitler not wanting to call attention to where he got his ideas during his formative years in Vienna. Although Hitler did not have much of an interest in actual occult practices, his chief of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, did. Himmler consulted a former mental asylum inmate, Karl Maria Willigut (a.k.a. Weisthor), who claimed to possess an ancient ancestral knowledge of the German race. Himmler constructed a "Nazi Vatican" at a castle in Wewelsburg where neo-pagan ceremonies for the Nazi SS were held. Goodrick-Clarke's final appendix to this study is an examination of the mythology Nazi Germany's meteoric rise and fall from an obscure party from the 1920s to a totalitarian government that had Europe from the English Channel to the Caucasus Mountains under its thumb (albeit briefly). A considerable amount of literature has been published in various countries about how the Nazi Party's rise to power was aided by supernatural and demonic forces.
The Occult Roots of Nazism.......2002-08-06
This is a great book on the history of the movement. A lot of good info about Aryan Paganism in Germany at the start of the 1900s. I've known people who were involved with German Wotanism between the 1920s to 1945 and have books of and about that time period, but Mr. Goodricke-Clarke talks about alot of people I've never heard of before, and he gives new details about people I've read a great deal about. This book is the only source for a lot of this info.
His new book Black Sun is like part II of The Occult Roots of Nazism. He talks about the Pagan Revival after WWII and all the new ideas and people in the movement. These two books should be read together.
Ariosophism.......2001-11-08
The Occult Roots of Nazism by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke is a very well written study of the massive influence Aryan occultism and esoteric societies had upon Hitler and the theoriticians of the NSDAP. He is quite comprehensive in his coverage of Ariosophist philosophers and enigmatic volkish groups which blossomed in late ninteenth-early twentieth century middle Europe.
What makes this book worth reading to the student of Modern European History, is not only Goodrick-Clarke's ability to link these movements to Nazi philosophy, but his attention to detail. Further, he carefully explains the historical surroundings and mystical, sometimes ludicrous, beliefs held by members of the various Ariosophical societies.These explanations, coupled with what must have been very tedious research, enlighten these somewhat obscure and often forgotten influences on the NSDAP.
This book is well worth a read. However, its appeal is somewhat limited to those with particular interest in the occult
philosophy sub-genre of Nazi Studies. By no means is it a typical Shirer inspired playscript of the Reich.
TAB
my personal review.......2001-08-31
this was a well written book, if you have an interest in the history of nazi europe this is a must read!
Book Description
This book gives clearly written explanations of the basic ideas and practices of Hinduism and its culture. It answers so many questions—Do the Hindus worship many gods? Are the Hindus idol worshippers? What is the purpose of life? What are Hinduism's spiritual practices?—and so on, covering the most mundane to the most profound ideas and questions of Hinduism.
Customer Reviews:
Essentials of Hinduism.......2007-10-02
It is a well written book. I have not read it fully yet, but it appears very authoritative and useful. I actually bought it for my daughter-in-law, who is keen to learn Hindu religion.
Satish
Great reading material for those just starting........2007-09-01
"The Essentials of Hinduism: A Comprehensive Overview of the World's Oldest Religion" by Swami Bhaskarananda covers all of the basics in a simple and organized manner, first posing common questions about Hinduism, and then providing clear and concise answers. The book does an excellent job of explaining some of the more abstract ideas and concepts within the Hindu belief. I would recommend this book to those who are only familiar with "Western" attitudes towards religion, as the author offers insightful analagies that allow comprehension to even the most confused reader. A wonderful overview for the beginner, however, not for those more versed within the Hindu realm.
The Essentials of Hinduism.......2007-01-26
The title of the book says it all. Even though the book is only about 200 pages it is EXTREMELY dense with information. Much more information than than I had anticipated when I ordered the book.
If you are interested in learning about Hinduism this is the book to get.
Adequate Review for New Readers.......2006-07-28
A qausi-scholarly text (meaning some, but not all of its sources are cited), this book is very readable and provides an adequate review of Hinduism, though I do not myself profess to be a consummate expert. At times "theistically thick" or very religiously friendly, it nonetheless seems to give a fair introductory review of basic concepts, deities, and beliefs of Hinduism. I can recommend it only as one source work, amongst others, for those scholastically inclined.
GOOD EXPLANATION OF THE HINDU DHARMA.......2006-05-17
IT IS A GOOD BOOK TO KNOW THE TRUE ASPECTS OF THE VEDIC PATH. AS GANDHIJI SAID "SATYAMEV JAYTE" "THE TRUTH ALWAYS WINS AT THE END" . HINDUISM HAS STOOD AGAINST THE PASSAGE OF TIME FOR OVER 5 THOUSAND YEARS. AGAINST THE TYRANNICAL ONSLOUGHT OF ISLAMIC INVASIONS AND BARBARISM AND SUBTERFUGE CONVERSIONS BY CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES BY DUPING NAIVE VILLAGERS .YES, THERE ARE SCOURGES IN THE RELIGION LIKE CASTISM AND VARIOUS PRACTICES,BUT WHICH RELIGION IS IMMUNE TO ITS PROBLEMS. BUT THE ESSENCE OF THIS ANCIENT RELIGION IS STILL PEACE,TOLERENCE AND ABHORRENCE OF CRUELTY AND VIOLENCE AGAINST ALL LIVING BEINGS. YOU WILL NEVER FIND HINDUS TRYING TO ATTACK AND ENSLAVE PEOPLE OR COUNTIRIES OR TRY TO CONVERT OTHERS TO THEIR RELIGION LIKE MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS. MAXIMUM VEGETARIANS FROM THIS COUNTRY REFLECT THEIR TRUE RESPECT FOR LIFE EVEN FOR THE ANIMALS.IT IS MOST HUMANE RELIGION ONCE YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE SCRIPTURES AND HINDU CULTURE. MAY THE ONLY TRUE RELIGION OF PEACE AND LOVE FOREVER CLAIM ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE ANNALS OF HISTORY.
Average customer rating:
|
Indo-Aryan Languages (Curzon Language Family)
George Cardona
Manufacturer: RoutledgeCurzon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Instruction
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Linguistics
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Phonetics & Phonics
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0700711309 |
Book Description
The Indo-Aryan languages, spoken by at least 700 million people in the Republic of India, in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldive Islands, and in countries where immigrants from South Asia have settled, constitute a major group within the Indo-European family. They have a claim to great antiquity, with the earliest Vedic Sanskrit texts dating to the end of the second millennium B.C. This language family supplies a historical documentation of language change over a longer period than any other subgroup of Indo-European. Further, the interaction between Indo-Aryan and Dravidan, Munda, and Tibeto-Burmese languages as well as Arabic and other Indo-European languages affords a rich field of study for borrowing and adaptation. Major features of Indo-Aryan languages have been described before, but there is a need for a synoptic treatment of these languages.
Customer Reviews:
(RAW Rating: 4.5) - What is happening to black men?.......2007-08-04
Demico Boothe has explored the reasons so many black men are indeed in prison in, WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK MEN IN PRISON? He begins with his own story of a shaky upbringing and his subsequent dabbling in drug dealing. He was caught with a few grams of crack cocaine but because it was the dreaded crack, he was given 10 years in prison. When he left prison after serving his time, he was actually railroaded back into prison by a crooked justice system. He delves deeply into our justice system and the motives behind all the new prisons that are being built. He gives succinct and reasonable views of exactly what is happening now in the United States and how the past has played a role in the present. He uses persuasive statistics regarding the number of black men in prison as compared to the number of white men who are incarcerated.
Demico Boothe has done an excellent job of researching his subject and it is a plus, if unfortunate for him, that he has actually experienced first hand what he's talking about. I knew I was hearing the real story rather than just statistics from an intellectual who had no real idea of what the prison system is really like. I would have liked for Boothe to search a little deeper into the Haiti, Aristide and USA question, maybe even reading Randall Robinson's take on the situation, and then he might see it a bit differently. Otherwise, it is a good book and one every one in America should read. We indeed, have a crisis going on.
Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison? A Comprehensive Account Of How And Why The Prison Industry Has Become A Predatory Entity In.......2007-06-09
The book was very interesting. I learned soooo much about the government and the prison industry. I did some searching independantly to check on the things reported in the book and they are very true. Great Read!! Buy the book.
A Must Read.......2007-05-25
Mr. Demico's book is a must-read for anyone concerned about young African American men. Although I did not agree with every conclusion he reached, Demico's main premises are convincing. As a white woman who teaches mainly students of color, I am always impressed, and often in awe, of those young men who reach college with so much going against them. Demico's books lays bare not only the horrible inequalities of our society, but also the racist attitudes of our political system - - Democrats, Republicans, and most everyone in between.
Why are so many Black Men in Prison?.......2007-05-13
I is a well put together book. He really goes into a lot of detail of how our society is really set up.
Why are so many blacks in prison?.......2007-05-12
I found this book very interesting. As a white devil myself, I had no idea that I was responsible for forcing blacks into committing crimes and then subsequently clogging up the whole "Prison Industrial Complex"(tm). I will try to stop causing this, as I am sure it is creating a LOT of trouble for everyone! Sorry!
It is probably also my fault that young black men dressed in XXXXL clothes overtly threaten me and my family members routinely. Can anyone tell me what I should do to make this not happen?
I imagine it's also my fault that black on white violent crime is WAY higher than white on black violent crime, even though blacks constitute about 12.5% of the population, and whites are about 70%. But since it is impossible for a black to commit a hate crime according to our criminal justice system (since blacks are not under any circumstances racist), statistically, there are more white on black hate crimes. Boothe notes a statistic regarding hate crimes, but he skips the one about interracial violence in general.
In sum, Boothe notes that just about everything blacks do is actually MY fault, because my skin is white. Boothe, I've got a word for you.
Introspection.
Book Description
Carl Gustav Jung, along with Sigmund Freud, stands as one of the two most famous and influential figures of the modern age. His ideas have shaped our perception of the world; his theories of myths and archetypes and his notion of the collective unconscious have become part of popular culture. Now, in this controversial and impeccably researched biography, Richard Noll reveals Jung as the all-too-human man he really was, a genius who, believing he was a spiritual prophet, founded a neopagan religious movement that offered mysteries for a new age.
The Aryan Christ is the previously untold story of the first sixty years of Jung's life--a story that follows him from his 1875 birth into a family troubled with madness and religious obsessions, through his career as a world-famous psychiatrist and his relationship and break with his mentor Freud, and on to his years as an early supporter of the Third Reich in the 1930s. It contains never-before-published revelations about his life and the lives of his most intimate followers--details that either were deliberately suppressed by Jung's family and disciples or have been newly excavated from archives in Europe and America.
Richard Noll traces the influence on Jung's ideas of the occultism, mysticism, and racism of nineteenth-century German culture, demonstrating how Jung's idealization of "primitive man has at its roots the Volkish movement of his own day, which championed a vision of an idyllic pre-Christian, Aryan past. Noll marshals a wealth of evidence to create the first full account of Jung's private and public lives: his advocacy of polygamy as a spiritual path and his affairs with female disciples; his neopaganism and polytheism; his anti-Semitism; and his use of self-induced trance states and the pivotal visionary experience in which he saw himself reborn as a lion-headed god from an ancient cult. The Aryan Christ perfectly captures the charged atmosphere of Jung's era and presents a cast of characters no novelist could dream up, among them Edith Rockefeller McCormick--whose story is fully told here for the first time--the lonely, agoraphobic daughter of John D. Rockefeller, who moved to Zurich to be near Jung and spent millions of dollars to help him launch his religious movement.
As Richard Noll writes, "Jung is more interesting . . . because of his humanity, not his semidivinity." In giving a complete portrait of this twentieth-century icon, The Aryan Christ is a book with implications for all of our lives.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining, informative yet highly biased ........2007-08-10
I loved reading the book (thus the 3 stars) yet the authors politically correct bias and penchant for sensationalism made the book somewhat irritating at times. The Author doesn't even try to "just present the facts" and write a biography in which Jung's life and works speak for themselves. I have nothing against Noll pointing out the possible implications of Jungs views mind you I didn't like the PC moralizing. Anything remotely "volkish" or that takes into consideration the importance of race ( especially Jung's view that race plays a part in the psychological make up of a person ) is blasted by Noll as "unscientific", "unenlightened" , "Dangerous. He also seems to have a lurid fascination with Jung's sex life.
Good Documentation.......2007-06-17
To some of us who have read widely and been around a long time, the "revelations" in this book consist less in its main theses than in the detailed evidence provided by the author. Jung's affections for the Nazis have been extensively documented elsewhere, so this is perhaps the least surprising of the major points Noll describes. In fact, the Jung Institute itself issued a book--Jung's Shadow--in an attempt to defuse at least some of the dismay arising from information dribbling out from behind the Archetypal wall.
For some, the fact that Jung was more pagan than not in his spiritual leanings, will be hot stuff; to me, it's old hat; the interest, as I said, is in the specifics provided by Noll. The fact that Jung was not monogamous may similarly upset--or titillate--some people coming for the first time to know the man behind the mask, but once again, it's no great excitement to those who have read widely in psycho-spiritual literature.
That Jung regarded himself as having been initiated and elevated to the rank of a god, depends on how 'god' is understood...and Noll does a good job of showing that this was intended in a pagan sense, and not a Judeo-Christian one.
All in all, this is an informative book, one that provided documentation and detail--both things the Jung Archives try to prevent by keeping The Great One's original works and personal correspondence controlled and under seal.
Richard Noll in the Right Dosage.......2006-10-11
As might be expected this book, The Aryan Christ, has caused considerable controvery in the US and in Europe. The argument is convincingly presented that Carl Jung's scientific description of the psyche and pyschoanalysis are based more on volkish notions prevalent in the late 19th century, coupled with assumptions from the likes of Max Muller about the truth of a deep "sun religion" behind the plethora of world religions, and all ginned up with allusions to Wagner's Parsifal and the Knights of the Holy Grail. Noll does well to present a plausible explanation of how Jung's theories were generated in the context of Jung's rather voracious reading in a range of fields including, not just comparative religion as it was construed in his day, but also the altogether wacky "fields" such as Theosophy, alchemy, and astrology.
Naturally, this is just the problem for those who would like to keep Jung on his pedestal: it seems to be the case that Jung was VERY MUCH a man of his times and to read Jung and take away the sense that he represents a universally valid account of human subjectivity is to be nothing but silly. Put otherwise, Noll has significant evidence that Jung "found" in the unconscious a wide variety of things that were also found in his library (see p. 133 where Noll writes: "If so, the collective unconscious may still be said to exist, but only on the shelves of Jung's personal library"). And this seems to me to be critical for the 21st century to understand: Jung read a lot of half-baked accounts of religions around the world and then claimed, in good faith or otherwise, that he was finding just these same elements, themes, and symbols in his patients. Beside the audacity/arrogance to interpret and explain the Other, for all time, and in all traditions, there are two pressing problems: first, no credible figure in Religious Studies would hold up the 19th century works of Max Muller et al as reliable information; so, the specific elements that Jung is discovering to be universally relevatory of the deep truth of humanity are based on "scholarly" information that has long been discredited: in effect, Jung appears to have read a lot of books on religions, "found" these same symbols in his patients (many of whom were reading the same books), and then wrote a lot of books about just these symbols claiming, adamantly, that they didn't come from their reading. Thus, just like the joke that communism is the fastest way between capitalism and capitalism, Jung's writings are the fastest way between shoddy scholarship on religion and shoddy scholarship on religion. Second, if reading books is how this kind of religious symbolism is getting passed around, then the unconscious in the Jungian sense is a useless idea since what is getting passed around is a body of fadish symbols that both patient and doctor agree are deeply significant. Jung's theories will fall flat if it can be shown that the unconscious and the analysis that uncovers it are really a refraction of the best seller list of spiritual hits at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in league with contemporaneous assumptions about the Germanic people and the dehumanizing effects of Judeo-Christianity, effects that stand in the way of Germans recovering their original identity.
That said, I find Noll's qualities as a historian troubling in places. Let's agree for the thousandth time not to write about what other people are supposedly thinking or feeling, especially when we weren't there. Then, Noll doesn't do himself any favors when he seems to use Jungian categories to talk about Jung's troubled invention of Jungian analysis. Similarly, even if a book is being written for a popular audience, no one needs to read chapters that start with sentences such as " Without her, he might never have succeeded."
And, also on the topic of Noll's sense of historiography, how about some admission of negative evidence? Is it just as Noll has it in this book, or are there spaces for doubt? Wouldn't the book have been stronger to let in some doubt about the narrative that Noll constructs for Jung's life, along with some room to debate the selection and interpretation of evidence? History _is_ interpretation, of course, with the substantiated facts and footnotes in view. And, in my opinion, I think Noll goes too easy on Jung's anti-semitism -- it's appalling what Jung said and wrote about Jews (and Christians for that matter), not to mention evidence presented in the French reviews of this book that Jung went on the radio in support of Hitler in 1932 or 1933. Arguably, this story could have been cast even darker than Noll has it.
At the end of the book, I am left with the two sentiments. First, Noll has done us all a favor -- I read Jung in my early 20's and didn't know what he was talking about or how to contextualize him -- now, with Noll's assistance, I have a way to situate Jung in the milieu of the likes of Ernst Haeckel and Ernst Junger. Second, Jung now, justly, appears as a symptom of his time: another German writer desparate to recover his Germanness at any cost, and fired up with Goethe, Nietzsche, and Max Muller, hopes that the unconscious and Jungian analysis will be his highway to the Teutonic soul and salvation -- a rather pathetic and truly atavistic hope, all in all.
Three questions remain: 1) why it took nearly 100 years to figure this out; 2) why modern readers find Jung so captivating - the answer isn't going to be flattering; and 3) what to do next in light of the deep influence that Jung has had on the formal study of religion in America and Europe, especially as refracted through the works of Eliade Mircea which, though tilting Jung's project somewhat away from the Germanic focus (Eliade's relation in the 1930's to the Romanian fascist group, the Iron Guard, is another matter to be dealt with), still share much of the basic plan of recovering archaic man and his chthonic spirituality in a quasi-Jungian effort to return to primitive homo religioso. Don't we really need to understand this phenomenon of "reactionary modernism" and see how problematic it really is? And, similarly, shouldn't we awaken the likes of Karen Armstrong and other who draw so heavily on Jung and Eliade, to the troubled tradition to which they belong, even as they promise to save us from ourselves?
In sum, though I wish Noll wrote history with less purple prose, I am sure that his work will continue, deservedly, to be part of the self-evaluation that Religious Studies, at least in America, began roughly a decade ago.
And, for the prospective buyer who has read my lengthy review: buy the book!
the tune of those not in harmony.......2006-09-14
This book is an example of Richard Noll's self loathing. One writes a negative, critically dissective, slanderous account of another if and only if that individual has certain secrets or behavioral predilections that conjure an amount of resentment and regret in that individual's Self. Perhaps Noll's feminine half, his anima, or shall we say, his own aryan-poking-fun unconscious, meant to flash a slight knowing smile admitting such - while his self-righteous, or perhaps self-emulating, conscious half, and he is surely a half, not a whole, constructed this work of laughable fiction attempting to damage the personality of a man who understood more than Noll ever will.
However, I'm sure Jung appreciates, as do I, a serious wannabe humorist. Who wouldn't? It is clear that Noll himself does not understand the projection of his own Aryan obsession though the character of Jung. Perhaps, one might suspect, Noll does not grasp the fact that Jung himself is an archetype, and his connect-the-dots method of observing himself as such was what gave him his objective/subjective analysis of reality.
Of course Jung is limited; he is limited as anyone is by the personality by which others record the physical presence. Yet Jung admits this himself - frequently he refers to psychology as a modern version of alchemy. Jung persists in acknowledging that psychology is the beginning and the end of grasping the human psyche and what comes after. Words after all are words, and where ever you go, there you are. I'm sure Noll twists his lip at Wilhelm Reich as well.
This is a good comedy.
Jung's Public Shadow.......2006-07-21
As you can see from the diversity of viewpoints expressed both here and in reviews of Noll's "The Jung Cult", this is a highly controversial history of Jung's work with an emphasis on aspects that Noll claims have been suppressed. When I was debating whether or not to buy this book, I found one seemingly scholarly review that called it "bad history" and, just now wondering whether I should say what I am about to write, I did further searches and found several other, seemingly reasonable reviews which take Noll to task for bad scholarship. So, as one should always, I will try to remain open to the possibility that I have been misled. But the diary extracts, letters, and other source material from which Noll's conclusions are drawn are carefully footnoted and mostly gleaned from libraries where anyone could easily show deception if that were the case. So, for the moment, Noll has convinced me that there is a dark side (both in the Jungian and conventional sense) to Jung.
I came to this book with a very high regard for Jung and seeing him as a guardian of truth in standing up to Freud's dogmatic insistence on the sexual basis of all neuroses. I still regard Jung as brilliant and having made extremely important contributions to humanity, but I now see a more balanced picture. Freud may have been too focused on sexuality, but apparently so was Jung, although in a much more personal way. Noll provides a convincing picture of Jung as being secretly dogmatic that a form of free love is essential to psychological health. Jung's sexual relationships with patients and coworkers, and his advice to patients to have extramarital affairs seem incontrovertible based on the evidence presented here.
I suspect that much of the criticism of Noll is based on his evidence that Jung was heavily into an Aryan world viewpoint, which immediately conjures up Nazi stereotypes in our minds. Noll repeatedly tries to counteract that understandable tendency, saying for example (last paragraph of the Introduction) "But the most troublesome part of this story comes from asking you, the reader, to do the morally impossible: to imagine a world - fin-de-siecle German Kultur - in which the words "Hitler" and "Nazi" and "Holocaust" do not exist."
Along these lines, it helps to remember that many intelligent, respectable, well-meaning Americans (e.g., Lindberg, Joseph Kennedy Sr.) were early Nazi supporters, just as many were early Communist supporters. The horrendous evils perpetrated in the names of Aryanism and Communism were not present in their early philosophies. It also helps to remember that anti-Semitism and racism in general were the cultural norm througout the world until well into the 1960's or 1970's. It was almost impossible NOT to be prejudiced in Jung's time. (A related book that touches on psychoanalysis and anti-Semitism and that I highly recommend is Bakan's "Sigmund Freud and the Jewish Mystical Tradition.")
Another problem concerns Noll's evidence that Jung disparaged Christianity and secretly reverted to (as well as secretly proselytized for) an ancient, pagan, Aryan religion. Such a move will be seen through a highly distorting filter if viewed in the context of today's Christianity. Again, it is hard, but important, to view Jung's choices in terms of the dogmatic Swiss-German Christianity of the late nineteenth century.
As with most movements that believe they have the secret to saving the world, many Jungians idealize their prophet and make him into a kind of god. In contrast, the picture that emerges from "Aryan Christ" is of a brilliant man -- but a man not a god and therefore with all the attendant human frailties. The danger is in forgetting Jung's humanity.
Book Description
The mystical and essential foundation, practice and philosophy of Wotanism, detailing a comprehensive repertoire of sacred rites and rituals, art, poetry, runes, the Havamal and C.G.Jung's Essay on Wotan.
Out of Chaos came light,
Out of Will came life,
Without form, without time
From iron black space
Through beads of crystal flame.
Cosmic rays of light and sound,
Spinning in seas of universal ether,
Piercing the armatures of spheres.
From the Mysteries—it comes.
From Legend—it comes.
From ancestors of a thousand ages—it comes.
The Spirit,
The Will,
The Wisdom,
TEMPLE OF WOTAN
Holy Book of the Aryan Tribes
Learn the indigenous ceremonies, rites and customs of the Euro-Pagan tradition. Here you will discover the knowledge and spiritual inspiration that feeds the ethnic soul and bridges man to Nature and the Gods. The cosmic convergence of a dynamic past and the decaying present demands reconciliation. The inevitable response is a resurgence of Wotanism—a synthesis of folkish spirit and will—promising a future Golden Age.
Authored and Illustrated by Ron McVan
Foreword by Miguel Serrano
Introduction by Katja Lane
Customer Reviews:
Insight Into the Ancient Beliefs of the European Folk and Nations. .......2006-08-28
There is no higher incentive for learning than self-esteem that flows spontaneously from awareness of a great past. In "Temple of Wotan: Holy Book of the Aryan Tribes" Ron McVan offers us insight and awareness of that great past. There are numerous photographs and inspiring illustrations throughout the book.
We find the complete `Havamal', C.G.Jung's Essay on Wotan, a study of runes and an explination of the Nordic calendar. We learn of the Druids, Gnosis, the Nature of Wotanism, and the Matrix of Destiny.
Sections include:
> Prologue
> Aryan Wotanism
> 20th Century Resurgence
> Havamal
> Calendar
> Ceremony & Ritual
> Invocations - Rites
> Poetry
> Epilogue
Some reviewers have tried to claim that "Temple of Wotan" is somehow racist doctrine. (Too bad these reviewers didn't actually read the book.) I have read "Temple of Wotan" several times, each time discovering some new insight, but not once have I found anything that degenerates another race, creed, or group of people. Rather, "Temple of Wotan" offers us an awareness of the ancient beliefs of the European folk and nations.
"Temple of Wotan" is Highly Recommended! Get your copy while they are still available.
blood is not a good cornerstone.......2005-09-05
in a sense, i am attracted to this...simultaneously, i am repelled...
i have plenty of germanic blood in my veins...but this is 2005..."pure" blood dwindles by the day here on planet earth.
we don't have the luxury any more to seek such islands of idealist purity.
(you can practice aesir or vanir worship whatever color your skin is....)
i call on Odin/Wotan and Freya often....depending on the season.
sometimes it is Legba and Oya....
i guess the idea of a re-Attained 'purity' is attractive to many....the many who have FORGOTTEN how much they can find within themselves without racial bias, without any blood doctrine...
get over it.
i don't care how white you are and how far back you can trace your nordic roots, we all came out of a lovely cradle/cauldron known as Africa.
blood and soil was a good idea up to 900AD...or so
kings and queens and clans are all dead or dying ideas.
Zarathustra.......2005-01-03
Like all attempts at recreating the esoteric into the waking aspirations of men, this work stands today, in our 'modern' rationalism, as a seminal work beginning the cycle of 'thought' and 'birth' of a People who, perhaps, have forgotten their way in the world...in Life. Archetypes, like all dreams and aspirations, have their beginning in the 'seed' of their Blood. Those modern's of today who cringe at the age-old sound of Race, Breed, and Spirit excepting, perhaps, those 'only' of those who remain 'outside' their own 'tribe' as worthy of attention, should 'choose' once and for all, who is worthy of attention First; only after this admission can they discover the ability to Love themselves first, will their 'world-view' become balanced.
Ron McVan and his fellows make no apologies as to the matter of Truth as they see and feel it; why should they? This is an honest study, and intended to give to their fellows that knowledge which will uplift and ritualize once again the understanding of Nature and nature's Law. (See al of David Lane's works)
Dare to be Who you are....
Insight into a racist doctrine.......2003-12-19
This is an excellent compendium of information on the Indo-Aryan mythology that inspired Wagner and Hitler and has become a touchstone belief for many modern neo-Nazis and racists. A must study for those wishing to understand and counter their particular form of poison.
You can't go wrong when you follow your Blood.......2003-04-04
I'll keep saying it, because it's true. Though it can seem extreme to many pagans and even non-pagans, extreme is all we have in today's extreme world. Can't we say walking around the street with a viking axe and carrying a necklace of human ears around dripping with blood from a fight is extreme? Well it was more common back then. We've become so comfortable that we forget what brought us here. This book reminds us, of that and ALSO to be thankful for it. An eye opener of a book if you are so used to the usual pasty pagan spells and hints at respect for your roots. This one comes right out and says it, while backing it up with facts from NATURE. There are far too few warriors out there anymore. Times change and we change with them. Hate is natural, but you cannot have hate without first love. Don't brush off this book by saying so easily "it's full of hate". Be as open minded as you think others are "ignorant", and read. To love one's people, and one's way of life, IS to hate that which threatens it.
Book Description
In his ambitious survey of the Indo-Aryan languages, Masica has provided a fundamental, comparative introduction that will interest not only general and theoretical linguists but also students of one or more languages (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujurati, Marathi, Sinhalese, etc.) who want to acquaint themselves with the broader linguistic context. Generally synchronic in approach, concentrating on the phonology, morphology and syntax of the modern representatives of the group, the volume also covers their historical development, writing systems, and aspects of sociolinguistics.
Customer Reviews:
Detailed .......2007-08-05
Masica does a decent job of what is obviously a difficult task of organizing the Indo-Aryan languages and reviewing them both synchronically and diachronically. He does review the languages using historical linguistics to trace language change from Sanskrit/Old Indo-Aryan thru Pali and the various Prakrits to the Modern Indo-Aryan languages.
However my primary fault with this book is that it doesn't read as easily as other Cambridge Language Surveys like The Dravidian Languages by Krishnamurti or The Slavic Languages by Sussex and Cubberley. He offers a chart showing the first person singular and plural pronouns but little reference to the 2nd person pronouns. More summaries showing the details of each language or language groups and their respective dialects and sample texts would have been helpful. Also he switches back and forth from one transcription system for Kashmiri to another and its difficult to track which is which. A little more organization would have increased its accessibility.
Customer Reviews:
Scary things to learn.......2007-01-15
I had to buy this book for a U.S. Minority Group Sociology class, and I loved it. It's amazing how in middle and high school I learned about a lot of the people that were mentioned in this book, but my past teachers neglected to tell us the truth behind the scenes and how so many of these historical figures were racists and bigots. It sickens me to know that the historical figures Americans today praise for their contributions to our society are the same ones that hated seeing races/ethnicities working together. I learned so much in this class, and so much from this book.
Jorge Boosh = Right Winger and Racist?.......2006-03-01
Maybe someone should inform Vicente Fox.
It's amazing what liberals write these days.
And by the way, the Republicans and the Democrats are two sides of the same coin, two halves of the same party. They aren't that different. Both want massive immigration, both want America involved in wars all over the world, both want to move our jobs to foreign countries, both support the new multicultural society, both of them are chock full of people who marry across the race lines, neither really cares for religion (regardless of what the politicians say...I don't see the Republicans putting prayer back into the schools), both woefully disregard the Constitution, ad infinitum.
Attack the Right...and TOTALLY ignore Leftist murderers.......2005-08-02
Pathetic...how can anyone discuss the "racist right" and ignore the overwhelming hate the left has for ordinary White Christian people?
Blacks rioting and murdering for "social justice" are treated with kid gloves because.."Oh they were just addressing White racism"...PUHLEEEZE...
Folks there is something going on with the White people of America. They are hammered constantly with "diversity" aka less whites equals better...but should White people DARE to suggest that maybe just maybe White people should be allowed to have a civilization of their own WITHOUT the horrendous black, Mexican violent crime rate...then they're "racists"...
Well... get used to it, the "movement" it is getting larger and larger by the day.
Soon White people will not give the smallest damn about your name calling, it will effectively mean NOTHING...it already does to MILLIONS of White people.
This book is yet another attack on White people who have simply become fed up, they've had enough, and they are now doing something about it.
So keep ignoring the overwhelming evidence of non-white on white violence...keep using the same rhetoric to attack anyone who speak up for White people...your point is moot...and White people WILL win back the America they so dearly love.
Detailed, Well Written, Excellent.......2002-08-09
An excellent, detailed textbook style examination of the radical right, in all its manifestations. Of all the books I've read on the right, and I've read a few, this one is the best. Carefully crafted and scholarly, Ridgeway pulls no punches. He gives detailed explanations of the history, origins and rhetoric of the KKK, The Posse Comitatus, The American Nazi Party and many related right wing haters. He makes copious use of the rights own pamphlets and speeches to reveal their twisted belief systems, and the book is full of pictures and even includes exerts of the infamous Turner Diaries. Well written and readable the book is also a gripping page-turner and will definitely keep you interested until the end. My only gripe is with the final chapter, which is unduly alarmist. It is true that the radical right is active and that they are a danger to society, but I am not convinced by the notion that there values are more acceptable in society than they have been in the past. Was Bull Conner an outcast in his time? Is David Duke more important politically than George Wallace was? Has the KKK been able to defeat a presidential candidate in modern times the way they defeated Al Smith? I also found the suggestion that Madonna and Tom Petty of all people are spreading racist propaganda to be laughable. Further the notion that opposition to affirmative action is evidence of a racist mindset is absurd, and revealing of the authors `liberal' bias. Affirmative action is not only a racist notion, based as it is on the idea that minorities need special help to succeed, but also has given aid and comfort to the racist cause. Racists can point to Affirmative Action as proof of their own beliefs. That being said, the ideological quirks of the author do not detract from the excellence of his scholarship. As a detailed explanation of the radical right across the broad spectrum, the book is peerless. Highly recommended.
Interesting; go check out the videotape.......2000-07-01
If skined88@hotmail.com had seen the video version of the book, he would see that Ridgeway did extensive interviews with neo-Nazis, and in fact let them speak for themselves.
The book itself is interesting, but the video shows these people up for the clowns they really are.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Introduction to Indo-Aryan Epigraphy
- First-class introduction to and survey of Indian epigraphy.
|
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages (South Asia Research)
Richard Salomon
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Instruction
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Linguistics
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Hinduism
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Sanskrit
| Hinduism
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0195099842 |
Book Description
This book provides a general survey of all the inscriptional material in the Sanskrit, Prakrit, and modern Indo-Aryan languages, including donative, dedicatory, panegyric, ritual, and literary texts carved on stone, metal, and other materials. This material comprises many thousands of documents dating from a range of more than two millennia, found in India and the neighboring nations of South Asia, as well as in many parts of Southeast, central, and East Asia. The inscriptions are written, for the most part, in the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts and their many varieties and derivatives. Inscriptional materials are of particular importance for the study of the Indian world, constituting the most detailed and accurate historical and chronological data for nearly all aspects of traditional Indian culture in ancient and medieval times. Richard Salomon surveys the entire corpus of Indo-Aryan inscriptions in terms of their contents, languages, scripts, and historical and cultural significance. He presents this material in such a way as to make it useful not only to Indologists but also non-specialists, including persons working in other aspects of Indian or South Asian studies, as well as scholars of epigraphy and ancient history and culture in other regions of the world.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Introduction to Indo-Aryan Epigraphy.......2000-04-29
Salomon does an admirable job introducing the vast field of epigraphy in the Indo-Aryan languages. There is much in the book which a beginner can follow but there is also a lot for the more knowledgeable. The importance and use of epigraphy in the study of ancient India is clearly described. This book whetted my appetite to learn more about Indian epigraphy.
First-class introduction to and survey of Indian epigraphy........1999-05-07
Here is a guide to writing and scripts in India, the languages of Indic inscriptions, a survey of inscriptions, methods of epigraphic study and even a history of Indian epigraphic studies. In addition there is a bibliographic survey and a selection of typical inscriptions. This is the place to start when dealing with Indian inscriptions. The style is clear and there are plenty of references to previous studies.
Book Description
"[An] important work"
—Philadelphia Inquirer
"Excellent book provides a lucid and often chilling guide."—Journal of European Studies
"Goodrick-Clarke writes with exceptional clarity, adroitly steeting his reader through the maze of changes and overlappings in the multifarious groups which he describes."
—Quadrant
"Given the extraordinarily dense amount of detail provided in such a wide-ranging series of chapters, Goodrick-Clarke writes with exceptional clarity, adroitly steering his reader through the maze of changes and overlappings in the multifarious groups which he describes."
—Quadrant
"Presents a troubling picture of the mindset of the modern Far Right."
—Library Journal
"Anyone who remembers the devastation wrought by Nazi fanaticism can only be astonished and dismayed by this book. Who could have foreseen that half a century after the defeat of the Third Reich the Jews would once again be perceived as a demonic power intent on destroying the 'Aryan race', or that Hitler would be imagined as a divine being who is about to return to earth to complete the Holocaust? For the matter, who could have foreseen that the preposterous 'pagan' cult developed by Heinrich Himmler would ever be revived? Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke shows not only that these things have indeed happened but how and why they have happened. He also suggests what dangers they may portend.
Black Sun is both an enthralling and a deeply disturbing work. It deserves the most serious attention—and a wide readership."
—Norman Cohn, author of The Pursuit of the Millennium and Warrant for Genocide
"Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke has done pioneering work in the field of theoccult roots of Nazism. In the present volume he performs the sameinvaluable service with regard to the ideological fantasies of post war neofascism."
—Walter Laqueur
"This book is a thorough examination of neo-Nazi extremist group development in the United States through the twentieth century."
—Multicultural Review
"...It is undeniably important and is sure to open your mind to shadowy worlds you never new existed."—Fortean Times
More than half a century after the defeat of Nazism and fascism, the far right is again challenging the liberal order of Western democracies. Radical movements are feeding on anxiety about economic globalization, affirmative action, and third-world immigration, flashpoint issues to many traditional groups in multicultural societies. A curious mixture of Aristocratic paganism, anti-Semitic demonology, Eastern philosophies and the occult is influencing populist antigovernment sentiment and helping to exploit the widespread fear that invisible elites are shaping world events.
Black Sun examines the new neofascist ideology, showing how hate groups, militias and conspiracy cults attempt to gain influence. Based on interviews and extensive research into underground groups,
Black Sun documents the new Nazi and fascist sects that have sprung up from the 1970s through the 1990s and examines the mentality and motivation of these far-right extremists. The result is a detailed, grounded portrait of the mythical and devotional aspects of Hitler cults among Aryan mystics, racist skinheads and Nazi satanists, Heavy Metal music fans, and in occult literature.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke offers a unique perspective on far right neo-Nazism viewing it as a new form of Western religious heresy. He paints a frightening picture of a religion with its own relics, rituals, prophecies and an international sectarian following that could, under the proper conditions, gain political power and attempt to realize its dangerous millenarian fantasies.
Customer Reviews:
Black Sun Black Satanism -- Lumped into same PropagandaStew.......2006-09-17
I just wasted $21.00
Interesting book, but it reeked of Black tainted dissinformation.
Tried to fascinate with occult stuff and instead just threw in satanism and everything else into the same pot.
I do not recommend this book for serious students of history who don't want their heads twisted.
Black Sun! An informative book on Nazi occultism.......2003-12-26
_Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity_ by the scholar Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke is an excellent overview of the extremely bizarre beliefs and personages involved in neo-Nazi occultism. I will keep this review short for the sake of not flogging a dead horse.
The cover features the "Black Sun," supposedly a mystical Aryan symbol representing the pure and undiluted blood and power of the Germanic race, inscribed on the floor of Himmler's SS castle-headquarters. The book itself is very well written and logically organized. Neo-Nazi and pagan cosmology, Christian Identity beliefs regarding the Bible and New Age (i.e. anti-Christian) conspiracy theories (best exemplified by anarcho-libertarians Bill Cooper and David Icke) have striking similarities to the ancient dualist heresies of Gnosticism and Manicheanism. _Black Sun_ is an excellent book for anyone interested in the world's dark undercurrents of religious extremism and elitist beliefs about the cosmic clash of good versus evil manifested on the material plane.
Black Sun.......2003-02-22
The Black Sun is a very good book. It deals with info no other book has ever dealt with. I'm not sure why so many of these reviewers have dissed this book so. I imagine some people just don't want this info out.
Excellent Panorama of the Far Right, But Becoming Dated.......2002-11-15
A handbook for anyone interested in contemporary Nazism and the far political right. It is, however, becoming a little dated as some of the movements have changes names and directions, and some of the personalities have moved to new things.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke writes with an air of intelligence and knowledgeability, so I was somewhat puzzled to find a reference on page 296 to the ENGLISH Royal Family. As far as I am aware, there is no such thing ! Perhaps the author is American and does not know that England is just one part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The correct term would have been the United Kingdom Royal Family, and British Royal family would have been acceptable, but English, never !
The author leads the reader through the whole gamut of the extreme right, from the sinister to the plain ridiculous. From large worldwide organisations to the individuals with ludicrous conspiracy theories. Fascinating reading which will give you lead after lead for personal research.
Goodrick-Clarke's conclusion highlights the negative consequences which could result if the current trend of forcing multiculturalism on a reluctant indiginous population continues to be pursued. Disaffection with mainstream politics, and a new rise of the extreme right, could bring major divisive change. Here in Europe we are already seeing the beginnings of what he warns of, with the entry of the extreme right into mainstream politics via political parties with rapidly growing memberships.
Better than most, despite its flaws.......2002-05-10
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke has written two outstanding books on Nazism and its links to religious/occult philosophies and figures: "The Occult Roots of Nazism" and "Hitler's Priestess." In both of those previous books (the first based on his doctoral dissertation at Oxford), he engaged in prodigious original source research and showed a bright light on subjects that had previously received either little attention or sloppy sensationalistic treatment.
If "Black Sun" is a trifle disappointing, it is so only by comparision with his own earlier achievements. This latest work is much more journalistic and relies, unfortunately, on others' research more often than not. Moreover, Goodrick-Clarke, in attempting a survey of current aryan/Neo-Nazi/Satanic/far right groups and writings, ends up covering ground already covered in books like Joscelyn Godwin's "Arktos," Kevin Coogan's "Dreamer of the Day," and his own "Hitler's Priestess" (which is about Savitri Devi, who combined Hinduism and Hitlerism).
It is not as if Goodrick-Clarke didn't spend his time in the trenches: it appears that he engaged in extensive correspondence with a number of his subjects and, as always, he has obviously read and digested much of the material that he summarizes in a clear-cut fashion. His chapter on Miguel Serrano breaks new ground in reporting on the extent of that author/diplomat's eccentric Hitler worship. But on other figures of the neo-nazi fringe, such as David Myatt, one is left with the impression that Goodrick-Clarke may have given too much credence to their own self-presentation or, conversely, to the hyperbole of their critics.
Make no mistake, this is as good a summary of present neo-nazi, extreme right ideas and personae as one is likely to find, but in dealing with the current scene - in a book that was written over the course of nearly a decade - "Black Sun" falls prey to the criticism, (voiced in some other reviews here,) that it is not entirely accurate or up to date. Especially in dealing with the knotty and ambiguous area of neo-nazi and Satanic overlaps, Goodrick-Clarke would have benefitted from inside information which was apparently beyond his grasp.
Still, it is never quite cricket to criticize a book for what a critic thinks it should be or might have been. There is much information here that cannot be found anywhere else, and with the caveat that one should double check any facts that may have been superceded by subsequent events, "Black Sun" is a compelling read.
Books:
- The Open Society and Its Enemies: Hegel and Marx (Routledge Classics)
- The Origins of FBI Counterintelligence (Modern War Studies)
- The Origins of Totalitarianism
- The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
- The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity Ad 200-1000 (Making of Europe)
- The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing
- The Shi'is of Iraq
- The Story of the World Volume 2: History for the Classical Child (Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Audio))
- The Things They Carried
- The Twilight of the Intellectuals: Culture and Politics in the Era of the Cold War
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- A History of Britain : At the Edge of the World, 3500 B.C.-1603 A.D
- Teddy Bear Encyclopedia
- Quality of Service in Optical Burst Switched Networks
- Silencing Political Dissent: How Post-September 11 Anti-Terrorism Measures Threaten Our Civil Libert
- Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: The Florida Edition
- Stream Ecology: Structure and Function of Running Waters
- The Future of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in European Tourism Faced With Globalization: Budap
- Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide
- Kaplan Newsweek Business School Admissions Adviser 2000
Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race
Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity
Unholy Alliance: A History of the Nazi Involvement With the Occult
The Secret King: Karl Maria Wiligut, Himmler's Lord of the Runes
Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival
